A long doubleheader weekend came to an early end when a mistake by KV AFS driver Sebastian Saavedra caused him to make contact with the wall and finish 22nd for Race 2 of the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans on Belle Isle, Michigan.

Qualifying for for Race 2 this morning, saw the field split into two groups with each group getting 12 minutes of track time to determine the starting grid. Saavedra went out in group two and after just two laps the red flag was brought out due to debris on the track from Ryan Hunter-Reay's contact with the wall. With five minutes remaining, the track went green and on the final lap, Saavedra set his best time of 77.0688 seconds, which put him ninth on the grid.

When the green flag was shown this afternoon for the 70-lap race on the 2.36-mile, 13-turn Belle Isle temporary street circuit, Saavedra was able to take advantage of an incident ahead and move up two spots. By the end of the first lap, the race had gone to yellow and he was sitting seventh. Saavedra maintained his position on the restart and then began chasing down the cars in front. He went to overtake Mike Conway, but unfortunately got too close and found the wall, breaking his front left suspension and ending his day after just nine laps. Saavedra picked up eight points today and sits 21st in the championship standings with 125 points.

"I am very disappointed with this early retirement," said Saavedra. "We had an amazing start and the changes the KV AFS Racing crew did overnight gave the car a very strong race pace. I made a mistake trying to get around Conway. I just got a little bit too close to him, my air was chopped and I got too close to the wall.....it's my fault. I'm disappointed with myself as I don't make these types of mistakes, we have kept the car clean all season so this is unacceptable. Time to work towards Texas. We have a very strong car from now on, which makes me very positive. I am looking forward to starting to bring home the results and getting back into the fight for the championship."

The 23-year-old, who celebrates his 24th birthday tomorrow, made his fourthstart on the Belle Isle street circuit today. In three previous races he earned his first IndyCar top-10 finish last year in Race 2 and today had his best qualifying result, ninth, which was also in Race 2.

Next up for the Verizon IndyCar Series is the Firestone 600 on the 1.5 mile, high-banked Texas Motor Speedway, June 6-7. The race will be broadcast on NBCSports at 8pm ET. IMS Radio Network coverage is augmented by real-time Timing & Scoring on www.indycar.com and the INDYCAR 14 app. The IMS Radio Network broadcast also can be heard on network affiliates, XM 209 and Sirius 213.

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